Mad Catz: MS could/would not block us

By Robert Purchese Published 17 November, 2009

Wireless-N Xbox 360 adapter wars begin.

Mad Catz has told Eurogamer that its Wireless-N Gaming Adapter could not and would not be blocked by Microsoft, despite having the same functionality for a lower price.

"Let me make a couple of things very very very clear," explained Alex Verrey, Mad Catz spokesperson. "A lot of sources have been commenting that Microsoft are going to come and lock it out and stop it working or whatever. Well it doesn't work like that because it plugs into the Ethernet port of the Xbox 360 or indeed the PS3 - both consoles pick it up as a wired connection.

"There's absolutely no way that Microsoft could conceivably lock it out," he said. "They can't lock it out and nor would they want to."

Verrey made it very very very clear that this is "not a licensed Microsoft product" but said the platform holder is one of Mad Catz' treasured partners.

"Microsoft is a licensee of ours. We would never ever do anything to put Microsoft's nose out of joint as it were, and we would never look to battle against them in any way by producing a cheap knock-off product," explained Verrey.

Mad Catz' Wireless-N network adapter costs £49.99 whereas Microsoft's official Wireless-N adapter costs £59.99. The former is out now; the latter will be released on Friday 20th November.

"I'm not prepared to publicly come out and say, "Yes it's better than..." added Verrey. "It uses Wireless-N technology so they both essentially do the same thing.

"We think ours has got a series of features that you might not find on others including the official Microsoft one. Ours for instance is compatible with PS3 and other devices and ours comes with a one-meter Ethernet cable, which means you don't have to have it tethered to your machine if you want to move it around."

Verrey wouldn't comment on why no one else has done this before, and said Mad Catz tries simply to stay on the "cusp" of new technology and so has been researching this Wireless-N adaptor "for a while". "In fact, we didn't even know that Microsoft were bringing out their Wireless-N adapter at the same time," promised Verrey.

He went on to say that the Modern Warfare 2 range of Mad Catz goods had sold very well, and that there will be the brand new Street Fighter IV Round 2 Arcade FightStick here before Christmas, featuring new artwork by Udon painters.

The peripheral maker has some top secret products in development too. "We are going to be announcing some significant new products that we know are just going to blow you guys away. They're going to be announced at CES [in January]," Verrey told us.

"Can I give you guys a hint? Um... I think fighting fans are going to be happy. We've got some brand new licences that we're looking forward to talking about and that's all I'm going to say at the moment because I'm going to get myself into trouble."

It's not motion-sensing boxing gloves is it?

"Ahhh haa haa hahahaaaa," bellowed Verrey. "I'm not going to say a word, Rob - you're not going to be able to cajole that out of me!" [Get a room. - Ed]

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (28) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Charlie789 #1 2 years ago

    Unfortunately if its like anything else I have bought made by Madcatz it will break within the 1st month of use! So I'll spend the extra £10 on the official one, if I really had to buy a wireless adapter.....which I don't because I prefer a wired connection for gaming.

  • Physically_Insane #2 2 years ago

    It's still fucking expensive. Make it £30 FFS!

  • McBradders #3 2 years ago

    @Charlie789

    The Madcatz sticks for Street Fighter IV are very solid, they certainly made me think again about MadCatz. Great stuff!

    Just think what you could do with that £10!

  • hidden_asbestos #4 2 years ago

    Countdown to... downloading update with list of permitted MAC addresses.

  • edhe #5 2 years ago

    My question is where to get an N router for using an N adapter, i'm on sky BB and do they offer one?

  • interceptor #6 2 years ago

    The official MS Wireless N adaptor is being sold in ASDA for £49.00 anyway...
    http://ww w.engadget.com/2009/11/08/elusi...
    Edited by 1 at 17/11/09 @ 17:30

  • Razz #7 2 years ago

    You can just plug your 360 into your laptop with a crossover cable, bridge the wireless and LAN connections, manually input the network details into the 360 and hey presto Wireless(ish) ^_^

  • insincere_dave #8 2 years ago

    I love a bit of scat (either version).

  • Vice.Destroyer #9 2 years ago

    Why is it always little chinese companies that get tarred with the cheap knock-off brush? Chinese goods are some of the best in the world. Their counterfeit stuff is shite. But then, so is Microsofts official Xbox [build quality]

    badoom-tish

  • INSOMANiAC #10 2 years ago

    Basically, its a ethernet adaptor , exactly the same as the belkin one I bought for £17.99 off amazon, except it is considerably more expensive.

  • siro #11 2 years ago

    Would need to be 20 pounds less than the original before I start considering 3rd party.

  • Hobo #12 2 years ago

    Wait...what?! It works for the PS3? That's genius, and extremely necessary!!

  • insincere_dave #13 2 years ago

    PS3 doesn't do Wireless-N smart arse.

  • Shakey_Jake33 #14 2 years ago

    Mad Catz have missed the boat with the pricing - they're gonna need a bigger price difference between themselves and the official product for people to considering going with theirs instead. £30 sounds ideal.

    But it's nice to see there's a bit of competition in the market after Microsoft's price gouging, and it will hopefully spur some other companies to release some more competitive products. A budget Wireless G adaptor for ~£15 would be a big hit, for example.

  • Simonkey75 #15 2 years ago

    Re: using your laptop - on vista and windows 7 just right click your wireless connection select Properties, tick the sharing option and plug the 360 into your ethernet port and bingo! obviously wired is always better but probs with my telephone wiring have led to router now being miles away in hallway and this has worked surprisingly well, esp. since it cost a grand total of nowt!

  • Mox #16 2 years ago

    I imagine they use the same chipset as the official Microsoft one, so by USB standards it's identical. Changing the specification won't help because that would invalidate all the Microsoft wireless adapters already sold.

  • Shakey_Jake33 #17 2 years ago

    @semitope - Because it connects to the Ethernet port, rather than the USB port. The 360 itself doesn't know it exists, it just treats it like a wired connection.

  • XBoxDragon #18 2 years ago

    Yeah, this is a wireless bridge, not an adaptor, also means it will need an extra power plug ( or maybe usb port for power? ).

  • Pirotic #19 2 years ago

    MadCats? They couldn't even make the super premium street fighter sticks without a ton of reported faults. I'd rather pay the £10 and get the official one. They may make consoles which break on a whim, but the official accessory tend to be very good quality.

  • clockworkzombie #20 2 years ago

    "Just think what you could do with that £10!"

    You could buy the Eurogamer iPod app.

    I agree with other posters, the MS accessories are very good I buy them instead of the knock offs now, on a related note the Sony Playstation branded bluetooth mic is superb.

    Pair it to the PS with USB and it gives a high quality voice mode you don't get if you pair using the bluetooth pairing service. One week after I purchased it my friends did the same as they could hear the voice quality difference whilst playing games.

  • Horse #21 2 years ago

    "Verrey wouldn't comment on why no one else has done this before"

    Who on earth asked that kind of question? This kind of thing has been possibly to do cheaply for literally before the X360 even existed.

  • Quixz #22 2 years ago

    If only it was sleek like Microsoft's..

  • udat #23 2 years ago

    It's a wireless ethernet bridge. They are not new, and not uncommon. Nor does any aspect of the 360's operation realy benefit from a wireless N connection. Maybe if you had 2 or 3 and wanted to stream HD to all of them at once a wireless N network might be required.

  • nevernow #24 2 years ago

    Could: well, if the device pretends to be a simple Ethernet cable, M$ should block the MAC address range to disable it.

    Would: on one side, this device is obviously overprice but the official one is even worse, so M$ might want to protect their profits; on the other side, the two companies are partners, so there was obviously some kind of agreement.

  • sickpuppysoftware #25 2 years ago

    HomePlug FTW if you can't get the cabling to your console. Much quicker and more stable than WIFI.

  • Toothball #26 2 years ago

    I don't see the problem at all. Peripheral manufacturers have been making alternatives for many years, most commonly at a cheaper price for better or worse. Besides, it's not the only ethernet to wireless adaptor available and there has never been an attempt from a platform holder to block those. Not sure where these stories about Microsoft blocking this one came from, but they could never have been anything other than rampant speculation.

    I'd probably spend the extra on the official one though. I've been wary of Mad Catz stuff in the past but gave some of their Rock Band gear a go after they got decent write ups. I got a bass guitar and their microphone with buttons in it. They're both decent enough, but they're still not quite the same as the official kit, as I had trouble with the tilt sensor on the bass and the microphone feels a bit light and isn't as sensitive. A bit of messing around with both has improved matters, but they're still not quite there for me.

  • linksdad #27 2 years ago

    I have problems with 2/3 of my official rock band guitars, One is too sensitive and the other you almost have to bash against a wall to trigger. Saying that the third is too fecking annoyingly squeeky to play so it doesnt get used either. I cant see mad catz being any worse.

  • macmurphy #28 2 years ago

    Just like to back up sickpuppy. Homeplug FTW, and you can use it on all your devices. I brought a wireless adapter and it was lagtastic. A pair of homeplugs are not that much more and you can use them with everything. I would never touch a wireless adapter with a bargepole.